Mostly about Taiwan…

2009 Kaohsiung World Games Opening

The opening ceremony of the 2009 World Games went very well on 16 July(considering the amount of budget was given to the opening and the whole event) except that China boycotted the opening (mutual non-denial? One China, two interpretations? Haha!). The whole evening was themed around the Taiwanese culture and the local scenery of Kaohsiung. Here are some clips:

I couldn’t find the actual performance but a clip of their rehearsal. The lead dancer was the 84 year old dancer, Lee Tsai-e. The theme was the nature and the sea as Kaohsiung is a port city and has a river going through.

Taiwanese traditional puppet show

This dance incorporates the local Taoist religious ceremony

The firework was 100% authentic, no digitally enhanced pre-recorded image.

‘We are the Champions’ sung by Taiwanese singers Tiger Huang & Shin, British tenor, Russell Watson and Heyley Wenstenra from New Zealand. No lip-synching!

Tiger Huang singing Taiwanese song ‘Happy sailing’. Really, it was her voice. She did sing it and wasn’t just lip synching and posing there.

Going around the world and finally getting back to Kaohsiung. What awaits you is a energetic and vibrant city. The runner in the middle was Kevin Lin, a marathon runner and advanture athele. The show was performed by amatuers from the local dance and music groups as well as students from local colleges and university.

I agree that there’s probably a lack of experience and the visual experience from TV wasn’t the greatest throughout. However, the whole event was done with a minimum budget, thanks to the Chinese Nationalist Party and there were actually a lot of creativity and imagination there. If your wife feels embarrassed of being a Taiwanese because of it, then perhaps the problem wasn’t the opening.

Obviously it’s subjective as to whether it was done well of course. Blaming the KMT is kinda stupid when World Games rules state that they are meant to be funded by the host city using existing facilities. Using purpose-built facilities (http://investintaiwan.nat.gov.tw/en/news/200406/2004063012.html) as they did implies an awful lot of corruption went on just to win the games in the first place – surely they could have followed the rules, won the games on merit and saved a lot of money (which could have been used for the opening).

The host is never required to build facilities or extend upon available infrastructure for the sake of The World Games alone. IDEALLY, the event is to be staged at existing venues, in appropriately sized facilities, which have been planned or built regardless of the candidate host bidding for the The World Games.

“… the Host City shall be responsible for the provision of all facilities…”
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It actually doesn’t specify who ‘financed’ the facilities. If it was not allowed, the IWGA wouldn’t violate its protocol and let it through.

If it was not legal to fund the World Games, why would the KMT shoot themselves in the foot approving anything in the first place?

Both Taipei and Kaohsiung cities pay taxes AND get funding redistributed from the central government every year. There’s nothing wrong with the central government funding Kaohsiung for the World Games.

You also mentioned corruptions. I hope you have solid proof before making such a claim.

Well, it is not our business who can not be pround of who she/he actually is. Don’t blame others if you can not even be pround of who you are. If you do not know how appreciate your own culture, it again absolute not other people’s fault. The one who can not even appreciate self should be shame but not us. ^_^ Again it is totally democratic nation. She is very much welcome to be citizen of other nation. ^_^ Don’t worry that we won’t stop you. ^_^ It is fairly easy to change one’s nationality, isn’t it?
It is always space to make things better, so does this. But they did very good job. ^_^ Prove that you can do better than this, otherwise, you really have no position to judge. ^_^

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Taiwan, also known as Formosa, is NOT part of China. The majority of the population see themselves as Taiwanese, NOT Chinese. Taiwan is a democracy and therefore people there do not wish to be ruled by China, a dictatorship with poor human rights record and about 2,000 missiles aiming at Taiwan.